EXPOSITION  OF  ERRORS 


119  THE  CALCULATION  OF  THE 


BOARD  OF  WATER  COMMISSIONERS. 


WHEREOF  THE 


CORRECTION  13  NECESSARY  TO  BE  MADE  BY  VOTERS, 


SOUND  JUDGMENT  CAN  BE  FORMED  ON  THE  QUESTION, 


WHETHER  THE 


Present  Flan  for  bringing  in  tlic  Croton  Water  Forty  Miles. 


SHALL   BE  ADOPTED 


tPEClAI.LV  A1>HRKSSEJ> 


TO  OWNERS  OF  REAL  ESTATE,  MERCHANTS,  AND  MECHANICS. 


WITH  SO.MK 


REMARKS  ON  THE  ERIE  RAIL  ROAD, 


AUDI  ALTERAM  PARTEM. 


BY  J.  JL.  SULLIVAN,  A.  HI. 

CIVIL  ENGINEER. 


NEW-YORK  : 

PRINTED  BY  GEORGE  P.  SCOTT  AND  CO.  33  ANN  STREET. 
1835. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Showing,  on  the  contrary,  from  Facts, 

admitted  in  their  first  report,  that  for  about  the  expense  of  one  million,  and 
in  one  year,  this  city  might  be  supplied  generally  with  Rock  Water,  instead 
of  waiting  four,  five,  or  six  years,  and  expending  six  millions. 

Moreover  proving, 

1.  That,  if  it  be  ultimately  expedient  to  bring  in  water  from  the  Croton, 
the  present  plan  of  doing  it  in  one  duct,  cannot  be  free  from  liability  to 
interruptions : — 

2.  That,  if  the  Croton  is  ever  necessary  to  this  city,  it  should  be  brought 
in  on  a  plan  the  least  likely  to  fail ;  and  one  is  suggested  : — 

3.  That,  the  adoption  of  the  Croton  project  is  the  neglect  of  a  present 
certainty,  for  a  remote  uncertainty. 


TO  THE 


OWNERS  OF  REAL  ESTATE, 


Having  for  some  time  past  been  led  to  bestow  attention  on  the  sub- 
ject of  supplying  water  to  this  city  from  the  sources  present  in  the  island, 
and  being  of  that  profession  within  whose  province  the  construction  of 
aqueducts  happens  to  fall,  the  writer  asks  leave  to  lay  before  you  a  few 
plain  reasons,  Why  the  plan  of  the  Water  Commissioners  to  bring  in  the 
Croton  is  at  the  sacrifice  of  near  and  pure  sources,  immediately  at  com- 
mand, and  essentially  necessary  without  loss  of  time.  While,  on  the 
contrary,  their  plan,  with  a  view  to  bring  the  expense  within  limits  that 
might  not  be  insurmountably  repugnant  to  public  sentiment,  involves  the 
dangerous  delay  of  a  number  of  years  ;  and  some  uncertainty,  after  all, 
of  its  answering  the  purpose,  in  our  climate,  in  the  mode  of  structure 
proposed. 

The  distance  of  the  source,  which  is  a  reason  for  the  surest  possible 
method,  is  thus  made  the  reason  for  an  experimental  work  in  hydraulic 
masonry. 

And  why  do  the  engineers  and  commissioners  say,  that  iron  pipes,  as 
at  Philadelphia,  are  "out  of  the  question  ?"  It  is  because  the  board  has 
determined  to  bring  in  six  times  as  much  water  as  the  city  wants  ! 

This  city  has  reached  that  criiical  period  of  its  history,  when  the  least 
mistake  will  turn  the  scale  of  commercial  ascendency  in  favour  of  Phi- 
ladelphia ;  and  yet  the  commissioners,  instead  of  advising  the  Common 
Council  to  make  use  of  the  ample  sources  present,  to  purify  the  air,  and 
prevent  the  interruption  of  business,  have,  ki  the  face  of  experience, 
depreciated  this  source,  which  no  human  mind  can  limit,  and  postponed 
the  defence  of  health  an  uncertain  number  of  years,  till  the  Croton  wa- 
ter can  be  brought  in  !    Can  this  be  humane  ?  Is  this  political  economy  ? 

You  thus  perceive,  that  the  three  great  classes  of  the  community  ad- 
dressed are,  separately  as  well  as  collectively,  interested  in  this  ques- 
tion :  the  owners  of  real  estate,  because  the  island  springs  are  a  perpe- 
tual appurtenance  of  property,  and  do  away  the  reproach  that  New- York 
has  no  good  water ;  the  merchants,  because  an  immediate  provision  may- 
save  the  interruption  of  trade  ;  the  mechanics,  because  they,  least  of  all, 
can  afford  the  public  calamity  of  a  cessation  of  business. 

It  is  a  question  submitted  to  the  good  sense  of  every  one,  Whether  the 
moment  it  is  decided  to  make  immediate  use  of  the  waters  we  have,  and 
then  to  bring  in  as  much  more  as  we  need,  every  inhabitant  will  not  feel 
that  this  is  his  permanent  home — that  this  city,  in  respect  to  health, 
surpasses  Philadelphia. — On  the  contrary,  defer  this  practical  defence  to 
the  uncertain  time  and  result  of  a  forty-mile  aqueduct,  which,  to  be  tight, 


I 


depends  on  tli<:  fidelity  of  man  y  thousand  hands  ;  and  it  leaves  an  ineei 
tainty  on  the  mind  as  to  where  will  Dually  bo  the  triumphant  emporium. 

The  internal  improvement  of  the  state  having  been  confined  to  the  cen- 
tre, is  found  to  he  incapable,  however  useful,  of  preventing  the  effects  of 
the  works  of  Pennsylvania  to  concentrate  the  commerce  of  the  interior 
on  her  capital. 

The  defence  o»  the  metropolis  of  New- York  is  mainly  left  to  the  public- 
spirit  of  its  inhabitants,  who  will  unite  funds  in  the  construction  of  the 
Erie  rail-road  i  and  I  do  not  know  but  that  it  may  not  have  occurred  to 
others.,  that  it  would  obviate  one  of  the  greatest  objections  to  a  general 
subscription  to  the  stock,  if  dividends  were  paid  equal  to  interest,  from 
the  beginning  chargeable,  with  perfect  propriety,  to  cost.  For  if  the 
division  of  sections  were  at  once  such  as  that  each  would  open  a  source 
of  revenue,  and  all  be  doing  at  the  same  time,  there  would  soon  be  enough 
for  interest.  This  defence  of  the  city  will  be  ultimately  effectual,  if  we  do 
not  give  Philadelphia  the  advantage  of  her  water- works  a  number  of 
years.  Why  ?  BfeCttttSe  the  line  ol  road  touches  the  Alleghany,  where 
it  enters  our  state,  and  SOWS  towards  Pittsburg;  indicating  that  route  to 
the  west  which  Mr.  Gallatin,  in  his  Report,  describes  as  turning  the 
Appalachian  barrier  on  the  notth  at  a  thousand  feet  less  elevation  than 
that  part  of  the  mountain  crossed  b\  the  Canal  to  Philadelphia. 

Tiiis  noble  stream,  known  to  the  writer  from  observation,  while  on  the 
Board  of  Internal  Improvement  and  Subsequently,  is  at  Hamilton  OH) 
feet  higher  than  at  Pittsburg;  and  Hows,  while  there  is  a  good  run  of 
water,  in  one  inclined  plane  280  miles.  The  valb  y  of  the  Ohio  then  ex- 
tends eleven  hundred  miles,  through  the  most  settled  part  of  the  west. — 
Whatever  Canada  may  do  on  the  one  side,  or  Pennsylvania  on  the  other, 
we  thus  command  the  evn're.  For,  although  generally  known  that  the 
Alleghany  is  a  rapid  and  obstructed  stream,  all  do  not  know  of  the  exist- 
ence of  an  invention  which  enables  steam-boats  to  ascend  its  swift < 
current,  by  an  application  of  the  power,  by  apparatus,  to  the  bottom  of 
the  river.  Many,  as  well  as  myself,  may  know  that  there  are  upwards 
of  fifty-three  rapids  below  the  Pennsylvania  line,  and  we  cannot  expect 
that  state  to  assist  us  to  remove  them  :  but  few  know  that  mechanical 
ingenuity  has  already  made  that  river,  in  a  stale* of  nature,  a  high  way  of 
commerce.  And  the  writer  deems  it  fortunate  for  New-York  that  some 
one  should  have  anticipated  this  occasion,  and  secured  t lie  right  of  this 
improvement  by  contract,  as  an  instrument  without  which  this  essential 
branch  of  our  trade  could  not  be  enjoyed.  But  it  is  obvious  that  with  it, 
and  with  the  rail-road  carriages,  (which  have  been  the  subject  of  a  con- 
tract by  the  Baltimore  company  with  the  writer,)  our  trade  direct  with 
the  west  will  reach  the  Alleghany  shore  in  36  hours  and  Pittsburg  in  12 
more,  whence  this  class  of  steam-boats  can  proceed  throughout  the  west- 
ern waters.  In  48  hours  we  shall  cut  across  the  Pennsylvania  line  of 
communication.  So  that  if  the  Ohio  state  canal  is  joined  to  that  of  Penn- 
sylvania, (as  no  doubt  it  will  be)  at  Pittsburg  business  will  divide. 

The  tendency  of  all  the  central  west  is  now  to  that  point.  The  valley 
o  f  the  Ohio  actually  contains  three-fourths  of  all  the  western  population ; 
and  great  as  is  the  object  of  reaching  Lake  Erie,  to  reach  the  Ohio  will 
for  a  long  time  be  greater. 

These  remarks  are  applicable  to  the  present  occasion  here  in  this  way. 
The  same  invention  alluded  to,  not  yet  applicable  there,  nor  to  the  coun- 
teraction of  Canadian  canals  by  saving  much  in  the  cost  of  our  canal  to 
Lake  Ontario,  is  applicable  now  to  the  navigation  of  the  New  Jersey  ca- 


s 


nat,  and  to  lessening  the  difference  to  the  Western  merchant,  whether  h< 
purchase  in  Philadelphia  or  New-  York.  Let  us  suppose  a  company  form- 
ed  among  the  merchants  of  New-York  to  lessen  the  expense  of  trans- 
portation between  the  two  cities,  to  the  utmost  economy,  consistent  with 
dispatch  and  regularity,  the  effect  of  it  must  be  to  make  the  Pennsylvania 
Canal  nearly  as  useful  to  us  as  to  Philadelphia  herself*.  And  when  the  Erie 
Rail  Road  shall  be  made,  the  consequence  of  such  cheap  conveyance 
must  ultimately  be  to  bring  freight  from  Philadelphia  here  to  go  west: 
because  it  will  save  jive  days  in  the  passage  to  Pittsburg. 

Thus  in  effectextending  the  Pennsylvania  Canal  to  New-York, we  (now,) 
at  once  want  to  be  on  a  footing  with  her  in  respect  to  water,  and  the 
means  of  preserving  the  purity  of  the  air  of  the  city.  This  therefore  is 
not  a  precaution  to  be  postponed  for  years. 

We  have  reached  that  point  in  this  great  competition,  in  which  we 
contend,  and  must  for  some  years  contend,  at  so  much  disadvantage, 
that  we  cannot  spare  one,  nor  the  least  one  of  our  natural  advantages. 
Much  of  our  trade  must  come  to  us  through  her  from  the  west,  and  must 
not  be  repulsed  by  danger,  into  the  lap  of  our  rival. 

If  she  has  the  Schuylkill  at  her  side,  from  which  she  pumps  her  millions 
of  gallons,  and  which  we  do  not  envy  her  ;  we  have  our  pure  subterra- 
neous streams,  which  we  can  easilv  raise  to  the  several  eminences  in 
this  city.  Bo  any  doubt  the  actual  presence  of  a  great  body  of  fine 
water  ? 

To  elucidate  the  question  now  pending  before  the  community  to  be 
settled  in  the  novel  mode  of  a  vote  at  the  polls,  the  facts  must  he  stated 
which  prove  the  value  of  the  island  springs.  Perhaps  it  were  presump- 
tuous to  hope  to  remove  the  prejudice  that  has  been  industriously  dis- 
seminated against  the  value  of  this  remarkable  gift  of  nature,  which 
seems  to  render  a  costly  work  unnecessary,  but  some  may  be  convinced 
that  this  mode  of  supply  has  not  been  advocated  without  some  reason  ; 
whether  to  delay  the  supply  four,  five,  or  six  years  might  not  be  a 
public  calamity — it  is  for  you  to  judge  ! 

Admit  for  a  moment,  before  I  shall  have  proved  it,  that  there  is  in  the 
stratified  rock  of  this  island,  and  northern  range  of  hills  a  natural  aqueduct, 
giving  an  abundance  of  such  fine  water  as  that  which  has  been  produced 
by  borings,  and  is  known  through  the  city  as  Rock  Water ;  and  suppose 
that  every  advocate  of  the  temperance  cause  were  able  to  refer  to  the 
salutary  effects  of  the  habitual  use  of  this  pure  water,  if  these  benefits 
should  last  but  five  years,  till  a  substitute  could  be  brought  in  from  the 
Croton,  would  it  not  have  been  worth  while  to  open  forty  fountains,  even  if 
they  were  then  by  ordinance  to  be  closed  for  ever,  that  the  Croton  aqueduct 
might  receive  a  revenue  ?  But  would  the  water  drinkers  be  willing  to 
have  them  closed  ?  Is  the  temperance  cause  to  be  promoted  by  exclu- 
ding rock  water  and  introducing  brook  water,  such  as  the  inhabitants  of 
Putnam  will  not  drink?  The  rock  water  is  soft,  light  and  cool,  it  re- 
quires no  ice  and  filtration.  The  success  of  the  temperance  cause  in 
New-York  does  not  depend  alone  on  having  this  pure  water,  but  would 
it  not  be  greatly  aided  by  its  diffusion  ? 

Why  has  the  city  been  always  so  insensible  to  the  value  of  this  gift  of 
nature,  certainly  a  very  remarkable  one  to  an  island  city?  The  reason 
has  been  that  some  influential  individuals  have  had  an  interest  contrary 
to  its  reception,  and  the  people  at  large  have  not  understood  its  value. 
And  because  the  instrumental  nfeans  were  the  invention  of  a  mechanic 
But  where  do  we  see  any  very  useful  improvement,  that  is  not  likewise 


6 


the  invention  of  some  mechanic  I  'J'lus  should  rather  have  been  a  reason 
for  encouraging  it  into  general  use.  The  Committee  of  the  Common 
Council  will  appear  to  have  been  ill  advised. 

Will  the  inhabitants  of  New-York  be  content  with  other  than  the  finest 
■priog  water  since  it  has  been  given  them?  Will  thev,  because  the  peo- 
ple of  Philadelphia  make  the  best  of  their  Schuylkill,  and  London  of  her 
Thames,  see  reason  to  give  it  up  and  be  content  with  brook  water  after 
it  has  drained  populous  districts  ? 

Does  not  the  good  sense  of  the  people  teach  them  that  water  to  be 
wholesome  must  be  cool  and  soft.  Has  not  the  Creator  taught  this  in 
the  manner  in  which  he  has  beneficently  prepared  it  by  evaporation  and 
condensation,  sending  it  from  the  mountains  down  to  the  habitations  of 
man  in  the  channels  of  the  rock  or  earth,  beyond  reach  of  the  causes  of 
contamination  on  the  surface,  and  the  dangerous  deposition  therein  of  the 
eggs  of  insects,  which  are  known  to  be  left  in  running  water  in  the  warm 
months  in  immense  numbers.  These  being  swallowed,  are  absorbed 
into  the  blood,  the  warmth  of  which  hatches  them  out.  A  c  se  is  stated 
in  the  New-York  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  for  August  last,  describ- 
ing a  person  attacked  with  fever,  in  whose  blood  (that  is,  in  the  few  oun- 
ces drawn,)  there  were  found  28  active  worms  from  one  half  to  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch  in  length.  Mr.  Rhinde,  a  naturalist  in  the  vicinity, 
found  them  to  be  the  larva?  of  the  tupula  fly,  of  which  the  ova  had  been 
swallowed  in  drinking  the  water  of  a  small  river.  And  it  is  very  likely 
that  this  is  among  the  unknown  causes  of  fever  in  many  instances. 

To  understand  the  subject  of  water,  it  is  of  use  to  advert  to  the  provi- 
sion which  originally  and  spontaneously  existed  here. 

In  the  central  valley  there  were  two  ponds,  one  of  which  the  Collect, 
between  the  Park  and  the  Bowery,  was  a  mile  in  circumference,  and  very 
deep,  the  rains  which  fell  on  the  island  could  not  account  for  it :  and  the 
quality  of  the  water  was  that  of  a  spring,  and  not  of  a  rain-water  pond. 
Its  coolness  was  the  popular  objection  to  its  being  abandoned  and  rilled 
up.  in  order  to  bring  in  the  running  water  of  the  Bronx.  Lispenard's 
pond,  half  a  mile  north  west  of  it,  was  of  the  same  quality.  The  former 
was  calculated  to  be  sufficient  to  supply  the  whole  city  : 

Whence  came  this  body  of  cool  water? 

The  geological  survey  made  by  Professor  Eaton,  by  order  of  the  Hon. 
Stephen  Van  Rensellaer,  from  Syracuse  to  Boston,  ascertained  the  fact, 
that  the  primitive  rock,  always  in  layers,  spreading  down  from  the  west, 
after  underlaying  the  valley  of  the  Hudson,  slopes  up,  and  forms  an  ex- 
tensive range  of  hills  beginning  with  the  island  of  New- York,  and  ex- 
tending north  through  West  Chester,  Putnam,  Columbia  and  Berkshire, 
pouring  out  innumerable  springs  from  between  the  layers.  The  like 
spontaneous  outpouring  formed  those  basins. 

Now,  as  this  range  of  stratified  hills,  was  the  explanation  of  the  natural 
basins  of  water  in  this  city,  I  would  ask  every  man  of  reflection  whether 
the  samp,  springs  that  fed  them,  must  not  continue  to  flow  1  Wliether  it  is 
possible  by  filling  up  to  suppress  a  living  spring  ? 

That  they  still  flow  is  proved  by  finding  water  in  the  rock  when  bored, 
rising  with  much  energy  20  feet  higher  than  their  surface,  and  30  feet 
higher  than  tide. 

And  that  a  great  quantity  of  this  fine  water  still  flows  out  of  this  ex- 
tremity of  the  rocky  range  underground,  is  proved  by  its  being  found 
in  quantities  that  no  pump  can  reduce  nor  fire  engine  exhaust,  as  often 
as  an  iron  tube  is  set  down  100  feet  in  the  earth  any  where  at  the  foot  of 


7 


this  under  ground  hill  of  rock.  There  are  sixteen  or  twenty  such  in- 
stances.  How  natural  it  would  have  been  to  supply  the  southern  wards 
from  the  base  of  the  northern  hill ! 

The  boring  in  the  rock  at  Shaw's  garden  near  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
Asylum,  is  112  feet,  the  water  rising  freely  94  feet,  is  the  most  elevated  ; 
but  the  most  useful  is  Mr.  Underwood's  in  the  ninth  ward,  about  100  feet 
deep,  2^  inches  diameter,  which  with  some  springs  in  that  neighbourhood, 
continually  supply  the  city  with  table  water.  And  in  the  same  neigh- 
bourhood that  of  Mr.  Richards  in  Perry  Street,  200  feet  deep,  of  which 
130  is  in  rock,  has  given  a  constant  supply  to  his  establishment  night 
and  day  of  about  20,000  gallons  in  24  hours,  cool  and  delightful  to 
drink,  its  very  purpose  requiring  it  to  be  soft.  Why  should  there  not  be 
any  number  of  such  ? 

That  of  the  Manhattan  Company,  at  the  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Bleecker-street,  is  the  most  remarkable  for  its  depth  and  size.  There  is, 
first,  a  well  12  feet  in  diameter  and  40  feet  deep,  down  to  the  rock :  this 
well  has  a  considerable  quantity  of  hard  water.  The  boring  is  com- 
menced on  its  rock  bottom,  and  is  carried  down  400  feet  7  inches  dia- 
meter. Water  was  found  at  282  feet,  and  successively  nine  times.  The 
full  quantity  it  will  afford  has  not  been  ascertained,  but  it  is  certain  it 
keeps  a  six-horse  engine  at  work  for  weeks  together,  or  as  long  as  they 
please  ;  and  that  the  quantity  which  this  power  raises,  with  temporary 
works,  is  90  gallons  a  minute,  or  129,000  in  24  hours.  It  is  of  a  soft 
and  fine  quality,  precisely  like  that  at  Perry-street,  and  has  been  used 
in  families  for  washing  clothes.  But  not  being  got  easily  separate  from 
the  hard  water  of  the  well,  because  the  latter  must  be  previously  pumped 
out,  the  commissioners  must  have  inadvertently  given  some  of  this  min- 
gled waler  to  Mr.  Chilton  to  analyze. 

This  boring  will  yield  enough  for  one  ward.  It  actually  cost  10,000 
dollars,  15  would  cost  150,000  dollars. 

But  why  has  not  the  water  been  distributed  ?  The  answer  may  be,  that 
as  there  has  not  been,  for  a  long  time,  any  cessation  of  effort  or  project  to 
bring  in  water,  in  violation  of  the  charter  of  the  company,  they  may  have 
felt  at  liberty  to  pause  in  their  expenditures.  There  surely  can  be  no 
better  object  of  capital  than  an  inexhaustible  source  of  pure  water  in  the 
midst  of  a  dense  population.  It  is  not  to  be  believed,  that  if  they  had  the 
rock  water  in  Philadelphia,  they  would  drink  even  the  filtrated  Schuyl- 
kill.   Why  should  we  not  feel  a  pride  in  our  superior  quality  of  water? 

The  incorporation  of  that  company,  to  bring  in  the  Bronx,  when  it 
was  determined  to  fill  up  the  Collect,  necessarily  gave  them  a  control 
over  that  and  other  streams  beyond  the  island,  and  a  perpetual  existence. 
The  powers  of  a  bank  were  made  incidental,  and  since  confirmed  by  the 
Supreme  Court.  But  as  there  was  not  then  known  to  be  any  source  of 
pure  water  in  the  island  capable  of  supplying  the  inhabitants,  the  inten- 
tion of  the  act  is  manifest :  and  possessing  no  exclusive  privilege  in  the 
city,  the  ground  they  have  not  occupied  is  the  proper  field  of  enterprise 
for  another  company. 

The  rights  of  parties  being  admitted,  according  to  law,  then  the  inha- 
bitants of  New- York  have  a  resource  in  the  rock  water,  independent  of 
litigation.  It  would  have  been  only  requisite  that  the  common  council 
should  have  given  leave,  as  petitioned,  to  lay  down  pipes,  and  the  Rock 
water  would  have  been  distributed  ;  and  the  common  council  might  have 
raised  as  much  as  public  purposes  required,  as  they  now  can,  at  small 
expense. 


s 


The  two  objects  should  alv*i\s  be  distinct,  because  for  public  u-< "M  the 
demand  is  at  times  excessive.  For  private  nee,  the  suppl)  require*  to 
be  steady  and  calculable.  No  plan  can  better  assure  an  uniniei  i mpfc id 
product  than  a  number  of  sources  and  engines  combined,  \ et  s<  parable. 
They  would  be  like  the  numerous  water  wheels  at  Philadelphia,  and 
their  parallel  main  pipes  and  separate  rc>cr\oir>;  but  w  hen  a  city  de- 
pends on  one  duct,  only  of  great  length,  there  is,  in  our  climate,  great 
liability  to  interruption. 

Besides,  you  perceive  that  in  filling  up  the  Collect,  which  was  esti- 
mated at  two  millions  of  gallons  a  day,  tin  y  'lid,  in  fact,  protect  this 
water  from  contamination.  The  pond  was  very  deep  ;  on  both  sides  the 
valley  there  were  high  gravel  hills  which  were  to  be  dug  down  to  fill  it 
Up  ;  and  as  the  embankments  advanced  into  deep  water,  they  were  high, 
so  that  the  stones  among  the  earth  must  have  separated  and  rolled  down, 
covering  the  whole  bottom  of  the  pond  many  feet  deep,  surmounted  with 
earth  perhaps  fifty  feet. 

Now,  can  any  one  doubt,  that  if  an  iron  tube  had  been  set  vertically 
in  the  middle  of  the  pond,  and  surrounded  by  the  filling,  that,  the  water 
would  have  stood  in  it  at  the  original  level  ;  and  that  a  pump  or 
steam  engine  would  have  found  an  inexhaustible  source,  because  the 
springs  which  had  fed  the  pond  must  have  then  flowed  among  the 
stones  to  the  tube  ? 

If  then,  one  or  more  pipes  be  placed  in  by  the  process  of  boring,  the 
city  has  recovered  that  water  as  effectually  as  if  they  had  been  previously 
set  in.  Here  we  might  have  four  millions  of  gallons  a  day  ;  for  that  the 
same  command  of  the  waters,  now  subterraneous  and  protected,  of  Lis- 
penard's  pond  may  be  had,  is  evinced  by  the  boring  and  tube  at  Cram's 
distillery,  where,  on  taking  off  the  upper  joint  to  bring  the  top  lower 
than  the  ancient  level,  the  water  continually  overflows,  cool  and  pure. 

If  the  city  then,  still  possesses  these  original  sources,  why  may  not 
water  be  raised  from  them  to  the  high  ground  near  the  Park,  and  near 
Chatham  Square,  in  abundance  for  the  fire  engine  service,  and  the 
cleansing  of  the  streets  ? 

Th<  foundation  of  boring  for  water  in  the  middle  states,  is  the  geological 
formation  of  the  country,  the  position  of  the  rock,  the  parting  of  the  strata 
which  must  have  been  for  many  ages  the  channels  oj  water  j rom  the 
mountains  to  the  sea.  The  expectation  of  finding  much  water  at  Boston 
by  this  means,  was  not  justified  by  the  geology  of  that  part  of  New  Eng- 
land, as  the  inspection  of  Eaton's  map  will  show  ;  and  the  reference  by 
the  commissioners  to  little  success  there,  is  answered  already  by  great 
success  here. 

This  want  of  accurate  information  has,  indeed,  been  the  cause  here  of 
the  prejudice  which  has  been  implanted  and  propagated.  The  Commit- 
tee of  the  Common  Council,  on  providing  water  for  the  fire  engine  ser- 
vice, desirous  jf  establishing  a  tank  on  high  ground,  addressed  a  respect- 
ful inquiry  to  the  New-York  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  as  a  society, 
whether  boring  for  water  could  be  relied  on  to  fill  their  tank  ? 

It  was  respectful  in  the  committee,  that,  instead  of  inquiring  of  expe- 
rience, at  the  several  places  above  mentioned,  they  submitted  the  ques- 
tion, not  to  a  geological  society,  but  one  cultivating  a  different  branch  of 
science,  but  so  composed  that  it  might  be  assumed,  that,  like  their  great 
predecessors,  Newton  and  Bacon,  they  must  not  only  know  facts,  but 
respect  experiment. 


9 


Looking,  as  they  must  have  done,  at  the  surface  of  the  island,  there 
may  be  an  obvious  apology  for  their  opinion,  that  boring  for  water  could 
not  be  relied  on,  because  the  strata  seem  to  stand  upright. 

Thereupon  the  committee  of  the  common  council  proceeded  to  exca- 
vate the  corporation's  fire  tank  well,  16  feet  diameter,  at  13th  street,  the 
surface  of  the  rock  being  13  feet  under  ground.  But  the  excavation  had 
not  proceeded  more  than  one  diameter  before  it  was  plain  that  the  strata 
was  not  vertical,  but  at  an  angle  of  35  deg. — much  as  had  been  descri* 
bed  in  Professor  Eaton's  survey,  which  was  probably  not  then  known 
to  those  gentlemen. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  mistake,  the  opinion  of  the  learned  commit- 
tee has  been  quoted  in  the  commissioners'  report,  as  of  authority,  contrary 
to  fact ;  though,  we  presume,  not  with  their  consent. 

The  principle  on  which  boring  for  water  is  founded  being  true,  it  is  a 
resource  for  pure  and  cool  water  of  inestimable  value  to  our  cities  in  the 
middle  states,  since  the  invention  of  apparatus  to  reach  it. 

The  committee  on  fire  and  water  next  directed  the  late  Gol.  De  Witt 
Clinton  (Nov.  183^)  to  survey  the  country,  from  White  Plains  to  Croton 
river,  and  give  his  opinion  of  the  best  mode  of  conducting  the  same  to 
the  city  :  and  on  the  22d  December  they  received  his  report,  recommend- 
ing an  open  aqueduct,  estimating  the  expense  at  two  and  a  half  millions. 
— His  opinion,  in  rejecting  the  Bronx,  expresses  disapprobation  of  the 
hrick  tunnel  proposed  from  that  river,  and  gives  some  striking  objections, 
(page  238)  to  this  kind  of  structure,  applicable  to  the  present  Croton 
project. 

The  Committee  having  reported  in  favour  of  obtaining  the  appointment 
of  a  Board  of  Commissioners,  to  ascertain  the  best  plan  of  the  work  as 
the  basis  of  their  application  for  leave  to  borrow  the  sum  requisite,  the 
first  board  was  appointed.  They  (the  second  board  being  appointed  by 
the  Legislature  without  application),  procured  a  mature  plan  and  estimate 
of  an  aqueduct  from  the  Croton ;  and  had  not  the  Board  thought  it  ne- 
cessary to  the  acceptance  of  that  plan,  to  depreciate  the  island  sources, 
and  consider  the  city  as  having  no  good  water,  there  would  have  been  no 
occasion  for  comment ;  but  it  has  become  incumbent  to  point  out  in  what 
respect  they  have  done  injustice  to  the  owners  of  real  estate  ;  and  may 
have  deprived  the  city  of  a  timely  resource  in  the  present  exigency. 

The  obviously  proper  mode  of  proceeding  would  have  been  to  inquire 
into  the  cost  and  products  of  the  several  borings  in  the  city  :  and  if  for 
example  they  had  asked  Mr.  Richards,  they  would  have  found  the  cost  of 
his  to  have  been  about  twelve  hundred  dollars,  and  the  product  18,  to 
22,000  gallons  a  day,  more  even  than  the  Corporation's  well  that  had 
cost  eight  times  as  much ;  but  they  pass  it  over  slightly  as  a  "  well," 
and  do  not  draw  the  favourable  inference  they  evidently  might  from  this 
instance  as  a  boring  of  the  rock.  But  they  wish  to  find  some  occasion 
to  discredit  this  art  and  resource.  When  they  came  to  that  of  the  Man- 
hattan Company  they  found  evidence  that  it  was  arable  of  giving  at  least 
120,000  gallons  a  day;  and  they  might  huvc  learnt  the  expense  of 
working  their  six  horse  engine,  and  thus  have  had  accurate  data. 

But  their  mode  of  proceeding  was,  to  imagine  the  great  well  of  the 
Corporation,  a  horing,  and  to  say  against  borings  all  they  could  say 
against  this  work.  Whether  this  was  judicious  or  candid  you  will  be 
best  able  to  judge. 

On  this  plan  they  gravely  proceed,  and  say,  page  371 — "  the  well  sunk 

2 


10 


by  the  Corporation  on  13th  Street,  although  a  very  useful  project,  has 
been  a  very  expensive  one  to  the  city,  having  cost,  including  the  land, 
57,972  dollars."  It  must  have  seemed  to  the  Board  wonderfully  costly, 
as  by  mistake  they  had  swelled  the  amount  no  less  than  15,7139  dollars. 

Nor  would  it  be  now  worth  while  to  have  mentioned  this  trifling  error, 
if  it  had  not  been  in  their  calculations  against  the  island  sources,  after- 
wards  multiplied  42  times!  and  if  they  had  not  in  their  recent  report 
referred  the  Common  Council  to  all  they  had  said  in  the  first,  on  this  sub- 
ject, as  being  true. 

Having  thus  established  the  principle  of  their  computation,  and  deter- 
mined that  a  work  made  for  the  special  purpose  of  holding  in  readiness 
to  extinguish  fires  '233,000  gallons,  not  comprehending  (then)  a  boring, 
must  be  a  proper  example  of  a  simple  station  to  raise  and  allow  the 
water  quickly  to  flow  to  the  consumer,  they  proceed  to  calculate,  but 
premise  that  "  the  Commissioners  have  no  data  by  which  to  estimate 
the  cost  of  the  Manhattan  well  (i.  e.  boring),  if  put  in  a  situation  to  dis- 
tribute the  water  with  engine,  reservoir,  &c,  similar  to  the  well  of  13th 
Street,  but  they  have  no  reason  to  think  that  it  will  be  less  than  that  be- 
longing to  the  Corporation." 

If  the  Board  then  were  of  this  opinion,  what  were  the  items  of  its  cost? 
Will  they  justify  that  opinion  ?    They  were  as  follows — 

Eleven  lots  were  bought  partly  on  speculation,  of  which 

two  only  were  essential  to  the  establishment —  •  -  812,250 


The  cost  of  blasting  out  the  well   9,000 

The  iron  tank  44  feet  diameter,  20  feet  deep   4,200 

The  foundation   4,415 

The  building   5,041 

Its  foundation   1,377 

The  steam  engine  _   5,200 

The  shed   750 


making  842,233 

It  is  plain  to  every  mind,  that  among  all  these  items  there  is  no  other 
applicable  to  a  station  but  the  steam  engine  ;  and  that  if  the  board  had 
been  very  anxious  to  be  accurate,  in  a  matter  not  strictly  within  their 
commission,  but  interesting  to  the  owners  of  real  estate,  they  might  have 
said  that  one  lot  is  alone  necessary, 

cost,  say       1200  dollars. 

The  engine  and  pump  5200 

Its  shed   750 

To  this  they  might  have  added 

The  cost  of  the  Manhattan  boring   10,000 

And  a  cistern  and  building   2,850 


making  20,000 

This  surely  is  very  different  from  the  accidentally  exaggerated  sum 
they  state  ;  for  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  gentlemen  of  character  design- 
edly made  such  a  mistake. 

And  now,  wanting  a  number  wherewith  to  multiply  the  said  57,972 
dollars,  they  assume  that  there  actually  is  720  water  in  the  island  at  all  fit 
for  even  a  horse  to  drink  ;  and  there  must  be  provided  5,240,000  gallons 
a  day — (which  demand  being  now,  however,  answered  from  some  source 
or  other,  seems  to  prove  that  the  city  is  not  really  so  destitute  as  has 


11 


been  supposed.)  To  ascertain,  however,  how  many  borings  would  sup- 
ply the  whole,  they  take  the  product  of  the  Manhattan  at  120,000,  and 
divide  it  into  the  above  quantity,  and  get  42,  as  the  number  of  boring  sta 
Hons  necessary  for  the  whole  city. 

They  then  multiply  57,972  dollars  by  42,  and  find  it  2,434,824  dollars, 
the  amount  of  capital  required,  according  to  them.  Finding,  even  with 
all  this  exaggeration,  (accidental  no  doubt)  that  the  amount  was  not  half 
so  much  as  the  Croton  aqueduct,  they  bethought  them,  in  the  face  of  ex- 
perience, of  saying  that  because  one  boring  or  100  borings  succeed,  that 
therefore  another  will  not.  But  can  there  be  any  reason  for  doubting 
success  when  the  geological  formation  of  the  country  itself  promises  it, 
as  surely  as  that  the  branches  of  the  Croton  will  continue  to  flow?  They 
come  from  the  same  rock. 

A  proper  comparison  would  have  been,  to  take  the  aforesaid  20,000 
dollars  as  the  fair  cost  of  a  station,  and  multiply  that  by  42,  which  makes 
840,000  dollars,  as  the  utmost  capital  for  the  whole  city,  were  there  no 
good  water  in  it.  About  one  third  the  sum  they  compute  4o  be  necessary 
for  the  42  stations,  and  about  one  sixth  as  much  as  the  Croton  aqueduct 
will  cost,  exclusive  of  distribution. 

But  finding  their  own  calculations  would  not  justify  the  rejection  of 
the  island  springs,  they  assert  that  the  annual  expense  of  them  would  be 
greater  than  the  interest  and  management  of  the  Croton  aqueduct. 

And  how  do  they  make  this  calculation  ?    First,  they  state  the  interest 

on  the  exaggerated  amount,  at  5  per  cent,  is  121,741 

They  then  calculate  the  annual  expense  of  a  12-horse  engine  to 

be  5569  dollars,  which  they  multiply  by  42  stations,  making  233,937 

Together  $355,678 

But  here  again  they  make  another  great  mistake.  It  was  a  six  horse 
engine  which  raised  the  120,000  gallons,  by  which  they  divided  the 
whole  demand.  Therefore  the  last  of  these  large  sums  is  nearly  twice 
too  large,  on  their  own  system.  On  their  side,  they  assume  that  the 
aqueduct  will  cost  five  millions,  and  that  five  per  cent,  will  cover  not 
only  interest,  but  repairs  and  management.  But  when  and  where  was 
it  ever  known  that  the  expenses  and  interest  of  this  kind  of  property  was 
covered  by  less  than  eight  per  cent  ?  So  that  if  it  cost  no  more  than 
five  millions,  the  annual  requisite  income  must  be  400.000  dollars. 
Indeed  including  the  distribution  6,200,000,  would  be  496,000  per  annum. 

We  do  not  see  where  this  revenue  is  to  come  from,  unless  by  direct 
taxes,  whether  the  inhabitants  want  the  water  or  not. 

The  calculation  of  the  expense  of  raising  water  by  the  steam  engine 
depending  on  the  height,  to  which  it  is  raised  in  a  given  time,  and 
there  having  been  various  modern  improvements,  I  am  sure  it  would  fall 
materially  below  the  following  estimate  which  I  make  in  this  way, 
as  in  some  relation  to  the  Erie  Rail  Road. 

For  example,  the  locomotive  known  on  the  Baltimore  road  as  Cooper's 
of  New-York,  would  do  one  third  more  work  as  a  stationary  engine. 

Its  performance  is  forty  miles  out  and  back  in  four  hours,  carrying 
fifty  tons  :  though  near  the  summit  the  rise  being  thirty-six  feet  in  a  mile, 
the  rate  is  but  ten  miles.  It  consumes  one  ton  of  anthracite  coal  in  that 
time,  so  that  the  cost  of  fuel  is  three-tenths  of  a  cent  a  ton  a  mile.  This 
engine  is  calculated  to  be  at  least  a  thirty-two  horse  power. 

Now  such  an  engine  employed  in  pumping,  would  raise  at  least  850  gal- 


12 


Ions  every  minute,  100  feet  high,  which  is  above  one  million  in  twenty-four 
hours  :  we  shall  however  probably  not  require  it  to  be  raised  more  than 
fifty  feet  high,  in  which  case  it  will  raise  two  millions. 

If  it  consumed  six  tons  a  day  it  would  be  $30 
double  hands  wages  0 
charges   4 

$40 

Allow  the  work  to  be  305  days,  the  amount  is.-  $14,000 
Interest  on  the  establishment  ^0,000  at  6  per  ct  1,000 
Supervision   300 

10,500 

As  much  water  is  thus  raised  as  10,000  families 
require,  and  the  aqueduct  will  average  $40  a 
house,  or  $400,000  ;  the  Interest  at  8  per 
cent,  on  which  is   32,000 


Making  848,500 

which  is  for  cost  of  this  mode  of  supply,  $4  85  cts.  a  house  per  annum. 

For  public  uses,  fire,  and  health,  the  capital  actually  invested  need 
not  exceed  50,000  dollars.  To  provide  water  for  the  streets  and  fire 
tanks,  derived  from  the  Central  Valley,  the  annual  expenditure  of  3.3,000 
dollars  will  raise  two  million  gallons  a  day,  for  public  uses,  one  hundred 
feet  high.  This  would  be  less  burdensome  to  the  people  than  the 
interest  of  the  public  debt  proposed  to  be  created. 

It  is  reasonably  doubted  whether  a  general  water  tax  can  be  constitu- 
tionally enforced.  The  Corporation  may  supply  water  at  common 
charge  for  fire  and  streets,  but  not  for  families.  To  receive  water  must 
be  optional,  because  there  are  many  who  have  excellent  wells,  and 
who  have  shared  in  the  expense  of  borings  and  tubes.  Many  may  be 
content  with  the  Manhattan  Water  Company,  when  they  distribute  the 
rock  water.  Like  bread,  it  is  aliment,  and  an  ordinance  may  regulate 
the  weight ;  but  no  man  can  be  compelled  to  buy. 

As  the  natural  sources  cannot  be  suppressed,  it  is  probable  that  those 
who  wish  to  give  the  greatest  value  to  estates  eligibly  situated,  will  pro- 
vide them  with  the  pure  and  cool  water  of  the  rock. 

I  have  thus  shown  that  the  commissioners,  not  feeling  that  the  sources 
within  the  city  were  strictly  a  part  of  their  commission,  did  not  go  into  the 
examination  thereof,  as  if  it  were  a  subject  in  which  the  inhabitants  felt 
any  interest ;  but  as  agents  of  the  Legislature,  pass  it  slightly  over,  and 
leave  the  impression  that  it  is  not  worthy  of  any  acceptance  as  a  gift  of  na- 
ture, while,  in  truth,  as  I  have  demonstrated,  if  properly  understood,  it  must 
prove  an  obstacle  to  any  extravagant  plan  of  supply  from  the  Croton. 

They  fear  the  influence  of  a  just  estimate  of  this  resource,  and  there- 
fore fall  into  the  erroneous  calculations  which  have  been  exposed 
to  view.  The  injury  is  to  the  owners  of  real  estate ;  unless  their  good 
sense  should  seasonably  correct  it,  in  rejecting  that  plan. 

And  if  the  plan  of  the  Commissioners  were  rejected,  would  the  city 
have  the  power  to  substitute  a  better  ?  It  appears  to  me  so,  because 
there  can  be  no  positive  certainty  of  the  delivery  of  the  water  from  such 


13 


a  distance  continually,  in  any  other  than  in  iron  pipes.  But  commis- 
sioners and  engineers  have  said  that  theSe  are  out  of  the  question, 
because  they  would  cost  twelve  millions.  But  why  out  of  the  question  ? 
because  they  have  assumed  that  the  city  now  wants  twenty  millions  of 
gallons  a  day  ;  but  why  should  more  be  brought  in  at  present  than  is 
necessary  ? 

They  estimate  the  expense  of  forty  miles  of  thirty  inch  pipe  to  be 
2,796,400  dollars,  and  deliver  about  three  millions  of  gallons  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  with  a  fifty  feet  head  :  a  higher  head  will  deliver  much 
more.  This  method  would  be  unaffected  by  climate  or  time  and,  would 
be  worth  the  cost ;  but  an  aqueduct  in  hydraulic  masonry,  subject 
bsides  uncertainty  to  repairs  from  year  to  year,  would  not  be  worth  cost ; 
and  how  else  is  the  debt  to  be  redeemed  1 

I  would  not  be  understood  to  say,  that  the  plan  of  the  work  is  not  the 
best  which  engineers  could,  under  such  constraint  as  to  expense,  have 
devised  ;  but  it  may  be  said,  that  there  are  objections  on  principle  to  the 
conduit  of  water  for  the  supply  of  a  city  in  one  duct  only,  if  that  one  be 
liable  to  interruption  ;  also,  without  example,  that  an  aqueduct  be  made 
in  masonry  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  liable  to  disturb  its  own  founda- 
tion, or  settle  in  the  least  degree,  because  the  consequence  is,  that  the 
trunk  necessarily  cracks  ;  leaks  may  occur  to  disturb  the  ground  ;  much 
of  it  will  be  on  embankments,  which  we  know  settle  for  years  on  rail- 
roads and  canals.  The  route  is  on  and  in  stratified  rock,  and  the  aque- 
duct may  leak  without  its  being  detected. 

It  may  be  urged  that  we  know  from  experience  in  our  country  and 
climate,  how  generally  works  in  hydraulic  lime  are  more  or  less  leaky. 
The  degree  of  leak,  which  would  not  be  regarded  in  a  lock  or  canal 
aqueduct,  becomes  of  serious  consequence  in  an  aqueduct  of  supply 
from  so  great  a  distance  ;  in  forty  miles  thousands  of  minute  leaks  may 
reduce  the  water  too  considerably.  There  ought  to  be  no  leaks,  because 
not  being  out  of  the  reach  of  frost,  ice  may  form  externally,  and  press 
the  masonry  out  of  place.  The  trunk  being  laid  in  many  places  imme- 
diately on  embankments,  there  is  no  certainty  that  settling  will  not 
combine  to  disturb  the  good  order  of  the  work ;  and  Col.  Clin- 
ton says,  in  his  objection  to  Mr.  White's  proposed  brick  aqueduct, 
that  in  case  of  any  break  in  winter,  it  could  not  be  repaired  till  the 
ensuing  summer  ;  none  of  these  objections  apply  to  iron. 

Having  seen  the  aqueducts  of  Rome,  I  venture  to  say  that  no  point  is 
more  scrupulously  guarded  than  that  the  foundations  of  the  trunk  shall 
not  be  disturbed  by  any  accidental  break  or  leakage. 

If  we  had  perfect  certainty  of  our  masonry,  perfect  guaranty  against 
the  climate,  sometimes  severe,  and  against  heavy  rains,  baffling  skill, 
and  involving  great  damage,  a  trunk  of  masonry  might  do. 

Were  there  no  good  water  in  the  city,  and  it  were  desirable  to  bring 
in  four  millions  for  drink  and  culinary  uses,  and  that  eight  millions  more 
were  wanted  for  the  use  of  manufactories  and  horses,  and  for  washing 
streets,  the  former  might  be  brought  in  one  iron  pipe,  laid  in  an  open 
walled  canal,  serving  to  bring  on  the  rest ;  and  when  the  city  should 
require  another  pipe,  it  could  be  laid  by  the  side  of  the  first.  This 
would  be  a  sure  way  to  accomplish  each  object  at  a  moderate  expense. 

This  would  provide  the  greater  proportion  for  common  purposes  at  so 
much  less  expense,  that  it  could  be  afforded  much  lower  to  all  the 
manufacturing  establishments.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  delivering  them 
separately  from  distinct  reservoirs. 


14 


In  regard  to  the  revenue  of  the  Croton  aqueduct,  it  cannot  be  lost 
sight  of,  that  the  Manhattan  Company  is  a  perpetuity,  and  that  its  charter 
rests  on  delivering  good  water  to  those  who  desire  it  along  their  aque- 
duct ;  and  it  may  be  presumed  that  they  will  make  their  works  extensive 
•enough  to  yield  a  revenue  equal  to  the  expense  and  interest.  This  insti- 
tution must  supply,  therefore,^,  considerable  number  of  customers  out  of 
those  the  Commissioners  have  calculated  on. 

We  must  deduct,  also,  those  families  who  are  willing  to  pay  for  a  full 
quantity  of  rock  water,  which  can  be  afforded  by  the  barrel  daily  per 
annum,  at  about  double  the  expense  by  pipes.  If,  however,  some  want 
to  economize  still  more,  a  rock  Water  hydrant  may  be  at  every  corner  of 
a  square  of  which  the  occupants  unite  to  take  it,  if  pipes  are  used. 

As  a  temporary  precaution,  it  would  be  easy  to  contrive  that  every 
pump  in  the  city  should  discharge  a  gallon  on  the  street,  every  time  a 
bueket  is  pumped. 

It  seems  imprudent  to  defer  a  system  of  cleanliness,  so  essential,  till 
we  can  bring  in  the  Croton  water. 

It  is  disadvantageous  to  the  manufacturing  interest  of  this  city  who  are 
solicitous  to  be  supplied,  to  postpone  that  accommodation  from  four  to 
eight  years.  If  the  water  be  on  tiic  island,  why  should  they  not  have  it 
immediately?  time  is  every  tiling  in  business. 

That  an  immediate  attention  to  cleansing  the  streets  is  of  far  more 
consequence  than  is  generally  suppsoed,  will  be  at  once  seen  by  advert- 
ing to  the  latest  and  most  philosophical  doctrine  on  the  subject  cl  malaria. 
The  necessity  we  are  under  of  converting  the  streets  into  sewers,  makes 
the  true  understanding  of  cause  and  effect  interesting  to  every  one. 

Malaria  hi  s  been  mentioned,  in  Professor  Dunglison's  recent  work  on 
human  health,  as  being  well  described  as  to  its  origin  by  Dr.  Caldwell,  in 
his  prize  essay,  who  considers  this  source  of  danger,  not  as  putrefaction, 
or  the  separation  of  bodies  into  their  elements  ;  but  from  vegetable  and 
animal  matters  in  a  state  of  dissolution.  "  Bilious  fever  in  all  it» 
varieties  of  tyne  end  degree,  often  prevails  in  places  where  no  putrefac- 
tion is  discoverable  ;  but  dissolution,  by  which  I  mean  the  decomposition 
of  dead  organic  substances,  and  the  reunion  of  the  elements  producing 
new  compounds,  is  present.    In  no  otner  way  can  malaria  be  formed." 

Now,  as  the  streets  of  this  city  are  the  receptacles  of  such  substances 
continually,  it  would  avail  little  to  let  on  water  in  the  expectation  of 
sweeping  it  away.  This  might  cause  much  filth  from  the  higher  streets 
to  lodge°in  the  lo\ver  ;  but  as  the  broom  always  leaves  the  most  dissolved 
and  dangerous  substances,,  some  water  is  wanted  to  naturalize  their  pro- 
ducts. The  broom  cannot  be  dispensed  with  ;  but  if  the  sweepings  were 
towards  and  into  the  gutter,  and  forthwith  removed,  the  fresher  dirt 
would  absorb  the  dissolved  and  jioisonous  part,  and  take  it  off  more  effec- 
tually than  the  broom  alone  ;  we  should  then  escape  also  the  annoy- 
ance of  dust.  Little  water  then  following  would  neutralize  the  remainder. 

When  it  is  recollected  by  every  one  what  great  numbers  are  carried 
off  by  pulmonary  consumption,  and  how  many  of  these  cases  originate  in 
preceding  intermittent  or  bilious  fevers  half  cured,  the  state  of  the  atmos 
phere  of 'the  city,  it  would  seem,  demands  the  most  immediate  remedy. 

It  seems  to  have  been  from  the  beginning  an  error  in  this  branch  of 
public  economy,  that  the  present  has  been  sacrificed  to  the  future.  And 
it  is  to  be  rather  expected,  that  the  public  authorities  will  not  be  con- 
vinced of  the  existence  of  the  island  sources,  till  they  see  either  the 
Manhattan  Company  or  associations  of  private  citizens  availing  exten- 
sively of  the  rock  water. 


15 


Although  nature,  theory,  and  practice,  combine  to  establish  the  fact, 
that  the  water  is  here  ;  yet  the  Board,  appointed  mainly  to  investigate 
hoio  the  Croton  water  should  be  brought  in  according  to  the  predetermi- 
nation of  the  first  Commissioners,  have  found  it  to  be  their  duty  to  merge 
this  primary  branch  of  the  inquiry  under  the  weight  of  their  great  influ- 
ence. The  commissioners  know  that  the  city  would  never  consent 
to  bring  in  the  Croton,  unless  the  work  were  believed  necessary.  Hav- 
ing persuaded  themselves  in  the  way  I  have  explained  to  think  it  so,, 
they  have  endeavoured  to  persuade  others  ;  but  the  main  facts  on  which 
alone  the  community  can  form  a  correct  judgment,  were  not  stated  at 
their  value. 

It  may  be  hoped  that  the  Corporation,  anticipating  the  improvement  of 
Central  valley  into  the  great  Erie  Rail  Road  landing,  whence  level  ground 
leads  to  both  rivers,  convenient  positions  will  be  assigned  for  raising 
the  recovered  spring  water  to  embellish  and  protect  this  future  thronged 
mart  of  the  great  west ;  and  at  once  provide  for  the  fire  and  health  de- 
partments, the  manufactures  and  shipping.  If  in  1798  this  source  would 
give  two  millions  of  gallons  a  day,  it  will  do  the  same  now. 

Without  interfering  with  the  Manhattan  Company,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  southern  and  shore  wards  might  form  a  water  company. 

The  northern  central  wards  another,  in  order  to  give  the  best  quality 
of  water  to  the  quarter  of  the  town  enjoying  naturally  the  purest  air  ; 
and  of  which  the  eligibility  for  the  most  costly  dwellings  is  equalled  by- 
no  other  place  in  the  Union.  To  give  perfection  to  this  elevated  part  of 
the  city,  it  seems  only  wanting  that  they  should  unite  to  command  an 
independent  source  of  supply  of  water  of  the  finest  quality. 

Let  us  however  admit  that  it  may  possibly  be  found  desirable  that 
there  should  be  a  more  free  command  of  water  for  health,  fire  and 
manufactories  ;  it  is  plain  that  for  these  purposes  an  open  walled  aque- 
duct from  the  Croton  would  be  admissible  ;  and  would  cost  about  half 
as  much  as  the  proposed  aqueduct  in  hydraulic  masonry,  while  families 
would  be  supplied  at  small  expense  from  the  natural  aqueduct  of  the 
rock.  A  work  of  this  magnitude  should  not  be  experimental,  but  on 
some  sure  principle. 

In  summing  up  the  advantages  of  this  natural  course  of  proceeding  ; 
the  effect  is  that  the  public  respects  the  chartered  rights  of  a  company 
earned  by  the  investment  of  400,000  dollars,  and  which  probably  stands 
ready  to  make  it  available  when  it  shall  be  decided  that  those  rights  are 
not  to  be  infringed.  This  Bank  is  left  in  a  position  to  countervail  as  is 
requisite,  by  the  credit  which  attaches  to  a  perpetuity,  as  soon  as  the 
Erie  Rail  Road  shall  be  made,  the  previous  adoption  of  the  capital  of 
the  United  States  Bank  into  the  internal  commerce  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
for  there  is  no  doubt  that  to  maintain  our  commercial  and  political 
influence  as  a  city  and  a  state,  the  banking  capital  of  New-York  must 
bear  some  proportion  to  the  relations  of  this  port  with  the  interior. 

Another  advantage  will  be,  that  instead  of  a  great  public  debt  prema- 
turely and  unreasonably  bearing  hard  on  real  estate  by  taxes,  which  must 
be  levied  to  make  up  the  deficient  revenue,  the  public  debt  will  be  small, 
and  substituted  by  private  capital,  to  which  the  Common  Council  will  add 
as  much  as  they  please  to  give  the  Corporation  proper  influence  in  the 
affairs  of  the  companies  ;  and  that  every  encouragement  may  be  given 
to  the  manufacturing  classes  : 

Another  is,  that  if  it  be  determined  at  some  future  time  to  bring  in  for 


16 


them,  and  for  health  and  fire  a  duct  from  the  Croton,  it  may  be  executed 

more  economically.  Thus  inviting  the  fullest  confidence  that  any  num- 
ber of  manufactories  to  be  possibly  expected,  will  be  accommodated 
one  way  or  the  other,  present  and  future. 

Another,  is  the  great  point  that  we  shall  in  one  year  be  on  a  fooling 
with  Philadelphia  in  respect  to  safety. 

In  conclusion,  the  inherent  difficulties  of  executing  the  law  appointing 
the  second  Board  of  Commissioners,  have  at  the  outset  made  it  neces- 
sary to  depart  from  the  condition  of  its  validity  that  the  cost  should  not 
exceed  two  and  a  half  millions — and  that  this  should  be  ascertained  by 
contracts,  which  they  admit  no  one  would  make.  The  law  being  passed 
without  request  of  the  Common  Council,  is  of  doubtful  constitutionality. 
Can  it  be  consistent  with  the  city  charter  ?  Does  it  not  institute  an 
agency  of  the  Legislature  to  execute  a  trust  which  should  be  done  by  an 
agency  of  the  Common  Council?  As  it  now  stands  the  legislature  has 
commanded  the  Common  Council  to  raise  money  for  this  agency,  which 
is  in  no  respect  responsible  to  the  city  or  its  oflicers,  and  is  moreover  a 
permanent  body  for  ci'y  affairs  existing  at  the  will  of  the  Legislature. 

Is  this  the  commission  which  the  Common  Council  reqested  ?  The 
Fire  and  Water  Committee  evidently  did  not  intend  to  surrender  any  part 
of  their  delegated  authority,  nor  had  they  the  power  to  do  so.  The 
charter  belongs  to  the  Corporation  of  the  city  ;  and  if  the  Councils  occa- 
sionally need  special  powers,  as  that  of  raising  money,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  the  Legislature,  because  it  can  enlarge,  can  also  diminish 
those  powers  vested  by  charter.  Such  are  the  writer's  own  impressions. 
If  the  water  commission  be  not  consistent  with  the  charter,  it  mate- 
rially affects  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  city,  as  such,  without  any 
reference  to  persons  or  party. 

Should  not  so  large  and  wealthy  a  community,  necessarily  governed 
by  councils  vested  by  charter  with  all  competent  powers,  be  jealous  of 
the  first  encroachment  on  it  ?    Is  it  not  the  ark  of  our  safety  ? 


The  Legislature  having  refused  to  aid  the  Erie  Rail  Road  Company, 
it  may  become  a  question  whether  there  are  not  good  grounds  for  be- 
lieving that  this  work  would  be  an  investment  worthy  of  a  full  sub- 
scription  by  private  capitalists  ? 

If  every  section  opens  some  peculiar  source  of  revenue,  and  if  the  road 
leads  directly  to  the  centre  of  the  west,  as  well  as  to  the  northern  inter- 
nal coast  of  our  country,  growing  rapidly  in  improvement,  it  would  seem 
that  there  should  be  no  doubt. 

The  first  section  includes  the  manufacturing  establishments  of  the 
Ramapo  valley,  of  which  the  neighbouring  mountains  abound  in  iron. 
After  passing  half  through  this  remarkable  gorge  in  the  highlands,  there 
opens  a  direct  valley  to  Newburg,  to  which  a  branch  would  be  easily 
made  ;  and  perhaps  in  time  be  prolonged  to  Albany  for  a  winter  road. 

From  the  Ramapo  the  route  inclines  north  west  to  the  centre  of  Orange 
Co.  To  the  west  through  Sussex  and  Warren,  the  ground  is  favourable 
for  a  rail  road  instead  of  the  canal  formerly  projected  to  the  Delaware. 
These  counties  abound  in  iron,  limestone,  marble,  and  produce.  The  Dela- 
ware here  breaks  through  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  from  this  place  to  the 
Susquehanna  a  rail  road  has  been  authorized  and  the  company  formed  : 
the  surveys  and  estimates  made.    It  crosses  elevated  but  favourable 


17 


ground,  and  descends  into  the  lower  part  of  the  coal  valley  of  the  Lack- 
awana  and  of  Lyoming,  ten  miles  above  Wilkesharre  ;  at  the  great  turn 
of  the  river  from  the  north-west  to  south-west.  The  execution  of  this 
work  will  give  great  accessions  of  business  to  the  first  and  second  sections. 

The  third  section  reaches  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Canal,  and  during 
winter  the  rail  road  would  receive  coal  to  be  brought  east,  and  all  the 
year  to  go  west.  The  trade  in  lumber  would  also  be  considerable  from 
this  section  in  the  winter  months. 

The  fourth  reaches  the  north  east  branch  of  the  Susquehanna,  meets 
and  accommodates  the  trade  and  travel  of  Otsego  County,  and  passes 
along  the  southern  border  of  the  state,  facilitating  the  business  of  the 
country  on  the  upper  branches  of  that  river  for  two  hundred  miles. 

The  fifth  section  reaches  three  objects,  the  winter  trade  of  the  Genesee 
Valley  as  low  as  Rochester ;  and  the  bituminous  coal  region  of  the 
Alleghany ;  and  the  direct  navigation  to  and  from  Pittsburg. 

The  sixth,  leaving  the  Alleghany  valley,  reaches  Lake  Erie  through 
a  rich  tract  of  country. 

In  relation  to  the  comparative  expense  of  transportation  from  New- 
York  to  the  river  Ohio,  by  the  way  of  the  Erie  Canal,  or  by  the  way  of 
Alleghany  River  and  the  Erie  Rail  Road,  the  recent  report  of  Mr. 
Johnson,  published  in  the  Rail  Road  Journal,  leaves  room  for  a  supple- 
ment. He  expresses  the  opinion,  that  the  Rochester  canal,  lately  sur- 
veyed and  reported  by  Mr.  Mills,  will  not  interfere  with  the  interest  of 
the  State,  in  which  he  is  no  doubt  correct,  nor  will  the  Erie  Rail  Road, 
though  capable  of  affording  much  cheaper  conveyance. 

The  distance  from  Olean  to  the  Erie  Canal  is   90  miles. 

From  Rochester  to  Albany  is  260  miles. 

350 

at  the  same  rate  as  on  the  Erie  Canal  (though  no  doubt  it  must  be  more, 
from  the  greater  lockage,)  is      817  70 

New- York  to  Olean  400  miles  by  Rail  Road  at  1^  cent  is     6  00 

The  statements  in  his  report  seem  to  require  to  be  carried  out  in  their 
respective  ratios,  and  the  expense  of  transportation  on  rail-roads,  when 
iu  good  operation,  added. 

It  requires  that  each  rate  should  be  extended  from  1000  lb.  to  that  for 
a  ton,  in  order  to  conform  to  the  established  standard  of  measure. 

Taking  the  rates  therefore  as  stated  by  him  as  the  customary  charge, 
we  have  from  New-Y~ork  to  Albany  145  miles,  82  37  per  ton  for 
hcaw  goods. 

By  Erie  Canal    363  18  37 

To  Cleveland  bv  Lake    190  7  98 

Ohio  Canal   308  15  58 


4 


Making  844  30,  deducting  the 
less  ratio  practically  on  Ohio  Canal,  and  we  have  their  customary  charge 
of  81  86  per  hundred  lbs.,  which  is  839  66  per  ton  to  Portsmouth. 

Let  us  now  calculate  what  the  expense  will  probably  he  from  New- 
York  by  the  Erie  Rail  Road  and  Alleghany  River  also  to  Portsmouth. 

The  expense  of  carrying  on  a  Rail  Road  depends  in  some  measure  on 
there  being  full  business.  At  first,  as  at  Baltimore,  when  the  extent  is 
small  and  the  landings  to  be  attended  at  as  much  expense  to  the  Com- 
pany,  as  if  the  business  were  full,  the  charge  is  rather  what  people  are 
content  to  pav,  than  what  the  transportation  could  be  afforded  for.  But 

3 


IS 


on  the  present  occasion  we  may  state  what  the  Erie  Rail  Road  will  proba- 
bly be  able  to  afford  when  in  good  operation  at  maturity. 

If  we  refer  to  Kooth's  report  on  the  Liverpool  road,  page  85,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  expense  per  ton  per  mile,  is  the  equivalent  of  one  third  of 
a  cent.  If  we  ask  what  is  experience  at  Baltimore,  the  answer  is,  that 
their  locomotives  carry  forty  tons  eighty  miles,  for  one  ton  of  coal  in  four 
hours,  which  may  be  called  the  third  of  a  day,  coal  86,  wages  §1,  oil 
25  cents,  interest  on  capital  and  repairs  according  to  experience  in 
England,  40  cts,  making  87  GO  cts  ;  plus  water  stations  82  50,  together 
$10  10  cts  ;  divided  by  3200  tons  one  mile,  the  work  done,  is  £  of  a 
cent  a  ton  a  mile. 

But  lest  practically  in  general  this  should  be  too  small,  let  it  be  called 
one-half  a  cent,  and  the  result  will  be  as  follows. 

From  New- York  to  the  navigable  head  of  the  Alleghany  is  415  miles, 
at  £  a  cent  a  ton  a  mile,  is      .   $2(fi 

Allow  at  maturity  that  the  toll  is  one  cent  a  ton  a  mile.  4  15 

Alleghany  River  has  a  fall  of  21  feet  a  mile,  which  causes  a 
current  varying  in  velocity  witli  depth,  and  if  we  assume  the  mean 
depth  to  be  five  feet,  and  the  fall  010  feet  to  Pittsburg,  may  be 
calculated  at  about  the  average  of  two  miles  an  hour.  But  with- 
out making  any  account  of  this  advantage,  280  miles,  at  the  same 
ratio  as  from  New-York  to  Albany,  which  is  giving  up  also  the 
cheapness  of  coal  on  that  river,  and  it  will  be  to  Pittsburg 

From  Pittsburg  to  Portsmouth  355  miles  down  the  Ohio,  at  the 
same  ratio  as  on  the  Hudson,  is    .    


1  5«i 


10  2 


Cost  from  New-York  to  Portsmouth 


821  03 


If  we  extend  this  calculation  to  Lake  Erie,  154  miles  further,  it  re- 
sults, that  569  miles  at  1^  cent  per  ton  per  mile,  is    $8  53- 

while  by  Erie  Canal  it  is  820  75  cents. 

Now  the  inference  is  very  fair  not  only  that  the  Kail  Road  will  coun- 
tervail the  works  of  Pennsylvania,  but  will  go  far  towards  balancing  the 
canals  of  Canada.  We  must  expect  that  market  to  be  supplied,  but 
when  wo  offer  a  facility  in  time,  at  moderate  expense,  there  must  be  a 
great  difference  in  the  markets  to  carry  much  more  thither  than  the  or- 
dinary demand  will  draw. 

In  adverting  again  to  Mr.  Johnson's  report,  it  is  perceived  that  from 
Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg,  the  charge  in  heavy  merchandise  is  81  25  cts. 
per  100  lbs.,  or  828  a  ton.  Light  goods,  81  50  cts.  per  100  lbs.,  or 
833  60  cts.  a  ton. 

Now  as  the  ascent  of  Alleghany  River  by  steamboats,  properly  con- 
structed, will  not  be  much  more  expensive  than  the  descent,  we  will  add 
one  half  to  that  estimate,  making  80  88  cts,  and  add  to  this  the  Rail 

Road  charge  .  —    0  22 

Making  813  10,  and  we  have  less  than  half 

the  expense  to  Philadelphia. 

If  the  question  arise  whether  the  rail  road  will  have  full  business, 
there  are  two  or  three  general  considerations  which  answer  affirma- 
tively. First,  the  prevalent  demand  for  expedition  in  our  country.  This 
requisition  has  sprung  from  the  circumstance  of  the  great  extent  of  the 
United  States.  To  men  of  business  who  come  a  thousand  or  two  thou- 
sand miles  to  our  sea-ports,  the  intermediate  country  has  little  to  interest 
them,  and  their  thoughts  are  either  in  the  market  to  which  they  gc,  or 


l.  -. 


19 


the  home  to  which  they  return.  Nor  is  the  wish  to  get  over  the  ground 
soon,  much  less  urgent  with  all ;  for  however  commodious  steamboats 
and  carriages  are,  they  cause  for  the  time  idleness  and  restraint.  Com- 
mercial  calculation  also  always  includes  time,  and  all  a  merchant  saves, 
in  getting  his  goods  home,  is  effectively  an  extension  of  credit,  or  use 
of  capital. 

On  these  grounds  we  see  that  the  calculation  of  all  New  England, 
which  must  also  come  in  for  a  share  of  the  western  trade,  will  be  to  join 
Erie  Rail  Road.  It  will  be  useless  for  Boston  to  make  a  Rail  Road  to 
Albany,  when  after  reaching  the  Connecticut  they  can  turn  down  through 
Hartford  to  New  Haven,  and  by  a  steamboat  transit  of  three  or  four 
hours,  be  on  the  Rail  Road  to  the  west.  All  New  England  is  no  small 
accession  of  business  to  that  which  the  City  of  New-York  will  furnish, 
and  the  central  west  add  to  the  north  west. 

It  also  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Johnson  in  his  report  has  not  quite  done 
justice  to  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal. 

The  elevation  of  the  summit  3215  feet  above  tide,  may  be  considered 
as  balanced  by  the  nobler  dimensions  of  that  canal,  which  permits  of  more 
than  usual  speed,  and  even  the  use  of  steam  power,  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  summit  will  be  crossed  by  perpendicular  lifts  instead  of  locks, 
which  may  save  three  fourths  the  time.  This  method  is  not  indeed  in 
practice,  nor  was  that  of  inclined  planes  before  the  Morris  canal  was 
made.  Nor  is  it  certain  that  twenty  feet  allowed  to  be  equivalent  to  a 
mile,  relates  to  lockage  alone  ;  the  tunnel  will  not  be  more  than  one  mile. 

New-York  being  as  a  commercial  city  also  interested  in  that  route, 
and  it  being  very  easy  to  adapt  steamboats  of  considerable  burthen  to 
that  and  the  other  canals  leading  hither,  we  may  compute  the  expense 
on  the  real  distance  in  this  instance  as  on  the  others. 
We  shall  then  have  the  Raritan  40  miles  for  navigation.  Raritan  canal  43 
Delaware  River  70       Delaware  canal  .  1G 

Chesapeake  bay  to  Potomac    100  > 

the  Potomac  95  $     Chesapeake  and  Ohio  canal  342 

305  401 


The  Hon.  Andrew  Stewart  in  his  report  to  the  Convention  at  Baltimore 
states  that  the  dimensions  of  the  canal,  compared  to  Erie  and  Pennsylva- 
nia, are  such  as  to  make  the  effect  of  power  as  171  to  100,  therefore  we 
must  reduce  the  preceding  rates  in  this  ratio,  which  make  it  about  three 
cents  a  ton  a  mile  :  401  miles  at  3  cents  is  $12 
and  305  miles  at  the  same  rate  as  on  the  Hudson,  is      7  26 


819  26 


It  is  thus  less  expense  from  Pittsburg  to  New-York,  than  from  Buffalo 
to  New- York  ;  and  much  less  than  from  Pittsburgh  to  Philadelphia. 

We  thus  see  that  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal  and  the  Erie  Rail 
Road,  are  to  be  the  cheapest  commercial  routes  to  the  west,  and  the 
latter,  the  cheapest  of  the  two. 

It  is  evident  that  the  Erie  Canal  cannot  be  a  protection  to  the  city  of 
New-York  against  the  policy  of  Pennsylvania.  Her  political  economy 
held  by  public  opinion  above  the  vortex  of  party,  has  left  the  power  of 
the  state  free  to  effectuate  works  of  internal  improvement  general] v. 


20 


They  appear  to  havo  realized  in  their  counsels,  that  useful  as  her  canals 
must  be  to  the  commerce  of  her  metropolis,  they  are  far  more  beneficial 
to  the  heart,  of  the  state  through  which  they  are  laid.  It  is  the  cheapness 
of  conveyance  to  market  which  Eric  canal  affords  to  the  districts  through 
which  it  passes,  that  has  built  up  the  villages  on  its  borders,  and  given 
increased  value  to  lands,  and  not  the  transit  of  merchandise,  lo  and  from 
the  west,  in  any  considerable  proportion.  A  raifroad  through  the  south- 
ern counties  must  have  the  like  effect,  without  diminishing  the  business 
of  the  canal.    It  creates  and  opens  the  sources  of  its  own  rev  enue. 

Some  are  of  opinion  that  the  refusal  of  the  legislature  is  no  misfortune, 
because  the  work  is  worthy  of  its  whole  capital,  and  if  so  the  whole  will 
be  filled  up.  Hut  suppose  not,  and  still  more  money  should  be  wanted, 
is  it  not  better  to  relv  on  Congress  to  subscribe  enough  to  complete  the 
work  ?  The  western  states  are  deeply  interested  in  its  useful  effect*, 
and  there  will  be  ample  funds  from  the  sale  of  the  public  lands. 


iEx  ICtbrtfl 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


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